1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to helmets, and more particularly, to a removable hunter knit liner for coupling within a helmet and providing insulation, warmth, and comfort to the head, ears, cheeks and back of the neck.
2. Description of the Related Art
Protective helmets are worn by many persons who engage in various non-motorized recreational activities including, but not limited to, skiing, snowboarding, bicycling, skateboarding, and in-line skating. However, wearing a helmet alone does not provide sufficient warmth or protection from the elements, and wearing hats or earmuffs with a helmet impedes the helmet's ability to fit comfortably and provide proper protection in the event of an accident. This leaves the helmet-wearer either insufficiently protected from the elements if they do not wear additional garments, or uncomfortable and improperly protected from head injuries if they do. Moreover, some persons, particularly children, do not wear helmets at all during potentially dangerous recreational activities because standard helmets can be unfashionable and uncomfortable to wear. The current invention seeks to eliminate these problems entirely.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,517,698 to Thomas R. Nault; Vicki L. Nault, discloses a bicycle helmet having a rigid shell, including a polymeric shell liner. The shell liner arranged to selectively receive at least one liner strip employing hook and loop fastener structure to provide for adjustment of the rigid shell onto an individual. A removable chin guard and pivotal visor is mounted to the rigid shell, with the visor including a visor rib arranged for securement in a raised orientation, with the visor arranged for reception within a spring clip structure mounted to the rigid shell.
United States Pat. Application No. 20020120978 to Dan T. Moore, III, discloses a protective helmet is provided which preferably has a outer shell and an energy-absorbing liner. The liner is made of low resilience or slow-recovery viscoelastic foam which is compression rate sensitive.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,321,433 to Frederick T. King, discloses a helmet having a three-piece construction comprising a liner of soft, resilient material adapted to reside adjacent the head of the user, an intermediate shell which lies over the inner layer and which mounts component parts constituting a radio, transmitter or the like, and a protective outer shell which covers the electrical components. The outer shell and the intermediate shell are joined in snap-lock relationship to provide a waterproof seal to protect the electronic component parts.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,016 to Christopher E. Coombs; assigned to Cairns & Brother, Inc., discloses an improved protective helmet assembly including an outer shell and an inner impact attenuation liner assembly wherein a chinstrap assembly is mounted to the inner impact attenuation liner assembly and the inner impact attenuation liner assembly is mounted within the outer impact shell to detach under predetermined load conditions from the outer impact shell.
United States Pat. Application No. 20030192110 to Mike Dennis; Russell A. Monk; Bruce L. Thede, discloses a unitary helmet liner suspension structure which is designed for easy and quick and correct fit into differently sized helmet shells whose specific sizes reside within a known and defined range of such sizes.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,843,630 to Albert Sbongk; assigned to ITW Automotive Products GmbH & Co. KG, discloses a fastening clip has an annular portion and two legs extending therefrom, each leg having a locking element. Two identical clips can be fastened together with the locking elements securing against separation. The clips can be used to fasten a panel to opposite walls of an accommodating member by inserting the clips from opposite sides in aligned through bores formed in the panel and the opposite walls, and pushing the clips toward each other until the locking elements engage. The annular portions of the clips have shoulders engaging the panel, while the legs have resilient projections engaging a surface of the through bore of the panel. The legs of each clip are barb-shaped and have distal ends snuggly fitted in spaces formed in the annular portion between the legs of the other clip.
United States Pat. Application No. 20020148081 to Thad Ide; David P. Halstead, discloses a buckle for receiving a strap member and for snap-fitting to a snap stud located on a helmet. The buckle includes a metal member having opposite ends, with an aperture located between the ends and a slit on either side of the aperture. Each of the slits including a plurality of rigorous surfaces suitable for frictionally engaging a strap member positionable therethrough.
United States Pat. Application No. 20040148743 to Anton Brunt; assigned to Strategic Sports Ltd., discloses a strap clamp for a helmet that includes relatively pivotable members which have internal wedge faces. Relative pivoting movement of the members releases the wedge faces to permit strap adjustment. In the preferred embodiment the pivotable members are identical, and snap-fitted together. Divergence of the straps on one side gives a degree of self-locking under tension.
United States Pat. Application No. 20040204208 to Spencer J. Thompson, discloses a sports helmet includes a liner comprised of impact resistant material and a protective shell encasing an outer surface of the liner. A female audio jack is secured within a rear cavity of the liner and has an aperture extending without the liner for receiving a male audio jack connected to a portable audio device. A pair of cavities is formed on opposite sides of the liner in which are secured speakers. Wiring extends from the female audio jack to the integral speakers. The speakers are positioned and oriented such so as to provide audio to the helmet wearer without blocking surrounding sound, and without affecting the safety aspects of the helmet.
United States Patent Application 20060060617 to Dan T. Moore, III; Kathleen M. Novak, discloses a helmet that is custom-fitted to a wearer's head, and methods of making the helmet, are provided. Method includes the steps of positioning a shape-forming means over the wearer's head, and hardening the shape-forming means to provide a hardened headform that substantially conforms to the shape of the wearer's head. The shape-forming means can be a stretchable beanie cap that is coated or impregnated with a curable polymeric material, a heat-softenable plastic sheet, or a strip or plurality of strips of curable tape that are wrapped about the wearer's head to provide a headwrap. Once the hardened headform has been made, it can be used to cast a hardened plaster fixture for use as the “male” member in a mold for casting an energy absorbing foam liner for a helmet which has an inner surface substantially conforming to the shape of the wearer's head. Alternatively, the hardened headform can itself be used as the “male” member of the liner casting mold.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,711,751, to David Todd Muskovitz; assigned to K-2 Corporation, discloses a helmet which includes a shell portion, a liner portion which is in the interior part of the helmet, and an insert portion which is embedded in the liner portion. The insert portion includes a mounting portion for one or more accessories, such as chin straps, side flaps, padding, and the like. The mounting liner provides structural integrity to the protective helmet, provides sufficient impact attenuation properties, and allows various items to be attached to the protective helmet, while still allowing the outer shell to be of lightweight construction. In one aspect, side portions about the ear are coupled to the insert portion. The side portions are rigid to provide support for side eyewear retaining portions that hold an eyewear elastic portion at the side of the helmet, thus preventing the eyewear from sliding off while resting atop the helmet.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,009,562, to Christopher Bullock; Michael Grim; Flint Thorne; assigned to Bell Sports, Inc., discloses a helmet and method of making the same for allowing repeated removal and attachment of helmet accessories, that includes an inner liner member for substantially covering a wearer's head, and an outer shell member that includes an upper shell surface, a lower shell surface which substantially covers an upper liner surface of the inner liner member, and at least one mounting hole formed therethrough. A grommet is disposed along the upper shell surface and aligned over the mounting hole. A receptacle housing is disposed along the lower shell surface and has a receptacle aligned to and facing the mounting hole. Engagement prongs secure the grommet to the receptacle housing with the shell member there between. The helmet accessory has at least one mounting member, such as a protrusion or screw. The receptacle includes a device for removably engaging the mounting member when the mounting member is inserted through the mounting hole in order to removably mount the helmet accessory to the helmet. An anchor member is connected to the receptacle housing and extends into the inner liner member to engage with a significant volume of the inner liner to secure the receptacle housing in place.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,079,780, to Christopher E. Coombs; Adolfo A. Ferreira; Scott J. Miller; assigned to Cairns & Brother, Inc., discloses a protective helmet assembly including an outer impact shell and an inner impact attenuation liner assembly wherein the inner liner assembly includes an adjustable headband assembly comprised of a front headband member and a rear spring-loaded headband member under the control of a chinstrap into a fitted configuration about the head of the user by a clip assembly. The inner impact attenuation liner assembly is mounted within the outer impact shell to separate therefrom under predetermined load conditions.
While these units may be suitable for the particular purpose employed, or for general use, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention as disclosed hereafter.